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Pennsylvania in General Assembly met To the Governor on the Subject matter of the Bill Entituled

"A Supplement to the Law for Erecting of Pounds, &

"The House are of Opinion, that by two Acts passed in the seventh & tenth years of the Reign of the late King George, the first Entituled An Act for Erecting & Maintains of Pounds,' the Second Entituled 'An Act to Improve the Breed of Horses, & both now in force, suff Provision is made for Rangers, Waifs, & Strays, and that as the Bill now under Consideration is only to amend some Defects which appear in those Acts, without maks any alteration therein to the prejudice of the Proprietors, or any officers they may appoint, The House are therefore in hopes that the Governor, on perusal of those Acts, and Reconsidering the Supplementary Bill proposed, will be pleased to give his Assent thereto, without engaging them to enter into the Consideration of any further Law to those purposes, which to them appears altogether unnecessary.

"Signed by Order of the House,

"J. GROWDON, Cler Coun." The Amendments to the Supplementary Bills for laying out of highways & publick Roads were agreed to, but the House are of Opinion that the Laws relating to Overseers of the Highways, if duly executed, are sufficient; Whereupon It is Recommended by the Board to such of their Number as are of the Magistracy, to take proper Care herein, & that they charge the Grand Jury's to make due Presentments, to the End the Laws may be put in Execution against such Overseers who shall be found remiss in their Duty.

Some of the Amendments proposed to the Bill for enjoyning sundry Officers to deposite the Records, & in the Offices adjoyning to the State House were agreed to, but the House persists in retaining those parts of the Bill, which oblige the Register General to an Attendance of 6 days in the Week, and make the fine of 10s. for the Neglect or Refusal of the Officer recoverable by the Testimony of one credible Witness.

The Bill for stablishing Courts of Equity was again read, but the Consideration thereof is, at the Governor's Desire, deferred till tomorrow forenoon, to which time the Council is adjourned.

At a Council held at Philadia., Febry 14th, 1735-6.

PRESENT:

The Honble PATRICK GORDON, Esqr., Lieut. Governor.

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The Minute of the preceeding Council being read & approved,The two following Bills sent up from the House Entituled

AN ACT for ascertaining the manner for the future erecting of Ferries within this Province,

AN ACT for ascertaining the Rates of Ferriages to be taken at divers Ferries within this Province,

Were read, to both which several Amendments being proposed, the same are ordered to be drawn up.

The Consideration of the Bill for establishing Courts of Equity being adjourned to this forenoon, the Governor proposed that, previous thereto, the Proceedings of the House on this Subject, & the Resolution passed by them, whereby the Conduct of the late Governor, of himself, and of those Gentlemen of this Board, who have assisted in holding a Court of Chancery or Equity since the year 1720 is openly arraign'd, & an Imputation thrown on them of having acted without proper Authority, or usurped an unlawfull one, should be duly considered, and some method be concerted for vindicating the Governor and Council from so unjust a Charge brought against them.

The Minutes of the present House on this Subject, and likewise several of those of the Assembly which met in October, 1719, at whose Request the then Governor was induced, with the assistance of the Council, to take upon him the Exercise of the Powers of a Chancellor, were read, & the Matter being fully spoke to, the Board came to the following unanimous Resolutions:

That the Resolve of the present House declaring "That the Court of Chancery as it is at present established is contrary to the Charter of Priviledges granted to the Freemen of this Province" is an unjust Charge on the present Governor, his Predecessor, & those Gentlemen who have composed, or do now compose, that Court, of having violated the Priviledges granted by the Proprietors Charter to the Freemen of this Province, tending to create groundless Jealousies of the Governor & Council, & to foment Discontents amongst the Inhabitants.

That a Vindication of the Proceedings of the Governor & Council be prepared and published, setting the whole Matter touching the Establishment of the said Court in its true Light, in order to remove those Impressions which otherwise may be entertained of the Conduct of this Board in relation thereto.

The Governor then moved the Board to consider & advise him. Whether it may be consistent with his Duty to the Proprietors, from whom he derives his Commission, & to the Crown, whose Approbation he is honoured with, that, contrary to the Practice which is generally known to obtain in all others of His Majesty's Colonies in America, where the Office of Chancellor is exercised, either by the Governors alone, or in Conjunction with others, chiefly those of

His Majesty's Council, He should now consent to any Bill for excluding himself, and the succeeding Governors of this Province, from presiding in the Court of Chancery or Equity?

The Consideration of which Motion is deferred till the Bill for establishing Courts of Equity comes under advisement.

It was then moved & agreed to that, for the quicker Dispatch of those other Bills now before the Board, Mr. Logan, Mr. Plumsted, & Mr. Assheton, be a Committee to draw up the amendments proposed to some of them, & the Reasons of this Board for adhering to their former Objections against others, and to report the same on Monday next.

At a Council held in Philadia., Feb'ry 16th, 1735-6.

PRESENT:

The Honble PATRICK GORDON, Esqr., Lieut. Governor.

James Logan,

Samuel Preston,

Clement Plumsted,

Thomas Laurence.

Ralph Assheton,

Samuel Hasell,
Thomas Griffitts,

Esquires.

The Minute of the preceeding Council being read & approved, The Committee, to whom it was referred to draw up amendments to several of the Bills now lying before the Board, & Reasons for adhering to the Objections against others, reported this day the following Messages & Amendments which were read in these Words:

"From the Governor in Council to the House of Representatives, in Reply to their Answer to his Message on the Subject matter of the Bill Entituled an Amendment of An Act the more effectually to prevent the erecting Wears & Damm's within the River SchuyÏkill.

"The Governor was in hopes what he had sent to the House on the Bill for Racks would have prevented their giving themselves any further Trouble about it, nor does he find any thing the House has since offered to have any such Weight with it, as to induce him to alter his Opinion; The Proprietors have always shewn a Paternal Regard for the good of all the People, & the Governor has ever thought it his greatest Honour & Merit to act in all such things conformable to their Inclinations; & therefore that all further Debates on this Head may be ended, he will here briefly show that it is with a sincere View to that Care and Regard, that he cannot agree to the Bill for Amendments as it is called.

"The Soil & Water of all the Rivers & Creeks within the Province that are not granted away by the Proprietor or his Agents are undoubtedly his, & yet as far as ever the Governor could learn, the

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Proprietor never sought to make any advantage of them to himself, but as a common Father to consult the Good of the Whole.

"At those two several times the late Proprietor was in the Province, he passed two several Acts against Damms and Wears, as they might be injurious both to the Navigation & Fishery, of which all Persons from the Mouths to the Heads of the Rivers or Creeks ought equally to partake of the Benefit. That Damms were a direct Obstruction to all Navigation where they stood is certain, but Wears were equally prohibited with Damms; and it is well known, if the Governor is rightly informed, that Racks are a much greater Obstruction to Navigation than Wears were, these being made of small sticks or some very slight Matter fastened to Stakes, but those are made of more substantial Materials, like Horse Racks, erected & kept up by large Stones carried into the River to support them; and tho' it is said in the proposed Bill, that one half of the River is to be kept open, yet were even this observed, the Obstruction of the other half must, in the Night time, or on sudden Turns of Points in the Day, be highly dangerous. But yet all this is not of equal weight with the following:

"It has pleased Divine Providence in a wonderfull manner to provide for the support of the Inhabitants of the Earth who dwell on or near Rivers, by implanting such an Instinct in the Fish of the Sea, as that they shall at least once a year crow'd up even to the highest parts of such Rivers to lay their Spawn, on which their Breed & further Increase is said wholly to depend; and in all well regulated Governments, particularly in England, the utmost Care is taken for Preservation of the Fishery to prohibit whatever may prevent their Course, or Discourage them from their annual Visits & Returns. But the Method now proposed by the Bill, according to all Accounts we have of the Practice of those that follow the Fishing by Racks in Schuylkill, appears to be the most ruinous that could possibly be contrived; For it is positively affirmed, this Practice is, for great Numbers of People mostly on Horseback, for a Mile or two or more, with large Bushes, Stakes, or other Instruments that may best answer the End, to beat the Water with great Noise, rake the Bottom of the River above the Racks, & to take all the Methods in their Power to force the Fish down into the Racks; and if this was the Practice heretofore, now when half the River is to be left open, it will follow of course that others in & about that vacant Part must use equal or greater Industry to prevent their getting that way by the Racks, by which means those that can escape must be more frightned and disturbed, the Spawn by the treading of Horses or other Feet, & by raking with Bushes & Trees must be destroyed, & while this is practised in half a score places in that River, they must obstinately shut their Eyes who cannot see, that, as it has happened in other places from the like Methods, the River will in time be entirely deserted by the Fish, and all the Inhabitants, in

all parts of the River, deprived of that great Benefit intended for Mankind by the Creator.

"And further there have such accounts been yearly given, when any Racks have either publickly or otherwise been erected, of the tumultuous Meetings, riotous Behaviour, Quarrels, Contentions, & even Outrages amongst the young People and others who assemble as to a Merry-making or a publick Diversion, at the time of Fishing by Racks, which are so unseemly Returns for the Benefit conferred on them, that this Consideration alone ought to weigh with all sober and well disposed persons, & dissuade them from encouraging any thing that is generally attended with such Consequences, as are a Reproach to any Government, whose Business it is to preserve Peace, Tranquility, & good Order.

"To allow People to make any Racks with Limitation that they shall not be carried above such a Length into the River can prove, as to this Limitation, no other than an Amusement: When People are justified in making some kind of Racks, & they meet for their own Interest, & none are present, or at least none with sufficient Power to interpose, it is not to be imagined that they will keep within any Rules or Limits whatsoever.

"Upon the whole, nothing can be more clear to any who will impartially consider the Nature of what is proposed, without any View or Interest, but solely to Right and good Order, than that such Methods of Fishing, were they indulged for any time, for the sake of only a present Profit, as it must necessarily, even for that time, deprive those on the upper parts of the River of the advantages to which they have an equal Right with any other that live on it, so it cannot in all humane Probability fail of depriving all the Inhabitants & our Posterity of every part of the Benefit, by entirely banishing the Fish from every River where these Methods are put in practice.

"It is with Reluctance the Governor finds himself obliged to withstand the Applications that have been made, but as they cannot be conceded to without much greater Disadvantages, he finds himself obliged in Duty & Conscience to refuse passing the Bill; and he hopes this Refusal may in a little time be found much less to the Disadvantage of those who sue for the Bill than they may now imagine. The Bottom of Schuylkill in the lower parts of the River is said to be stony & unfit for Nets, but the Governor conceives, if the Nets be made somewhat deeper, & in the proper Places fixed & kept every where to the Bottom, while they are buoyed up at Top, a competent Number of Fish may be taken, and in time the People's Skill will improve & render it more familiar & easy, & by this Means the Blessing may be continued to all the Inhabitants & their Posterity." "From the Governor in Council to the House of Representatives a further Message on the Subject matter of the Bill Entituled A Supplement to the Law for erecting Pounds &c.

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